VP 166R
The VP 166R was a sports car prototype that was developed in 1953 by Vernet et Pairard .
Development history and technology
In 1950, the two French racing drivers Just-Émile Vernet and Jean Pairard founded a small company that developed a small series of sports cars based on the Renault 4CV . The first racing car was the VP 156R, a Spyder also known as the Renault 4CV Tank .
The VP166R was originally planned as a closed coupé. Of the three units built, however, one vehicle was a Spyder. The tubular frame of the car was designed by the designer Robert Mauger. The coupés were two-seater, with a flat rear end. The engine was a Renault "Billancourt", an in- line engine with four cylinders and 747 cm³ displacement. Vernet increased the performance by, among other things, changing the valves and the camshaft and providing the engine with a double carburetor.
The car was presented at the Salon de l'Automobile in 1953 . A planned series together with Renault never came about for reasons that are still unclear. One of the three cars is still preserved today and is in the Renault Museum in Boulogne-Billancourt .
Racing history
With a few exceptions, the VP 166R was almost only driven in the Le Mans 24-hour race . The racing debut was in 1953 ; At the wheel were the two company owners Vernet and Pairard, who crossed the finish line as the 26th vehicle but were not rated due to the lack of distance covered. In 1954 , alongside Vernet, Yves Giraud-Cabantous was at the start. This time the barquette was used, which was canceled after an accident two hours before the end of the race.
The Barquette was also driven in 1955 and 1956 . In 1956 Giraud-Cabantous competed with Yves Lesur and retired again after an engine failure. In 1956, Jean-Marie Dumazer and Lucien Campion drove the car to 14th place overall. The last time the Barquette was driven was in Le Mans in 1957 by Dumazer and Bernard Consten ; again there was a failure due to an accident.
Apart from Le Mans, there was a 29th place finish in the Tour de France for automobiles in 1954 and a 16th place in the 1000 km race in Paris in 1956 .
